Authorised property appraisers’ perceptions of commercial property valuation

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the thought patterns of authorized property appraisers (APAs) when valuing commercial properties, and draw conclusions about their collective thinking in terms of content, complexity, and homogeneity.

A standard set of value-adding factors and bipolar constructs was included in a grid form used for data collection. The repertory grid technique and principal component analysis were used to map and analyze the thought patterns of nearly half of the APAs in Sweden.

Analysis of the mean grid for all respondents revealed three dimensions in the aggregated APA thought pattern: property object – property market focus, abstract – specific information, and expert – superficial assessments. The aggregated thought pattern was found to be moderately complex, and the APAs demonstrated relatively strong homogeneity in their thought patterns.

Based on the moderate complexity and relatively strong homogeneity in respondent thought patterns, this study discusses the upcoming establishment of a profession.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study using the repertory grid technique to map and analyze APA thought patterns at an aggregated level.